


A word of advice

by KoibitoDream



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Advice, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff and Humor, Game up third years, Gen, Hints at new fic in the making, Insecurities, Karasuno Family, M/M, Relationship Advice, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 12:04:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9122839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KoibitoDream/pseuds/KoibitoDream
Summary: Sometimes, a word of advice is in order. Luckily, Sakusa is more than happy to help. In his own words.





	

**Author's Note:**

> In which Sakusa is a spoiled college kid who gets to call for training camps with Karasuno and his old school is more than happy to oblige.

He sits on the beam in his gym, the practice going on around him, but he doesn't care. Kageyama _awkward teapot_ Tobio isn't around so he doesn't feel like he should be doing something.

What _is_ interesting that morning is the fact that in front of him stands Tsukishima Kei, the middle blocker of Karasuno's Volleyball team, looking like he wants to ask something – he can tell by the fidgeting of his fingers – but refuses to say a word. Which is to be considered a small miracle, or so he hears from Tobio.

Now why would Tsukishima _want_ to ask Sakusa Kiyoomi anything in the first place?

Well...

Thing is, aside from Ushijima Wakatoshi and Karasuno, he's the only one who...well... _gets_ Kageyama Tobio.

Tsukishima doesn't need someone from the team – that would be too much – to maybe help him out with an issue.

The issue being close at home.

The issue being Tsukishima Akiteru, to be precise.

Hence the reason he can't ask anyone from the team. Kuroo is out of the question as well. He's alright and all, but this is not a topic he can discuss with him.

Whether or not that statement holds any ground is not up for discussion right now. The entire team is on a training camp with Itachiyama and there's no time, or so Tsukishima told himself, to be wasting on other options.

 

“So let me get this straight.” Sakusa begins, voice low.

“Tobio started hanging around your place on _your_ initiative and your brother seems to be on much better terms with him than you?”

 

_Yes, that sums it up quite nicely._

The younger Tsukishima will never forget the image of Kageyama and Akiteru doing a so called undercover thing or whatever that required them to mask themselves. Or so his brother says. It was a very bleak morning when Tsukishima Kei saw them with a pair of sunglasses and a rap hat and were dressed in a track suit trying to be sneaky.

Or that time when he came home from the store and Kageyama and Akiteru couldn't breathe from laughter over some stupid show. Or the fact that Akiteru also confided his side of the volleyball disaster story to Kageyama and to their both surprise, the volleyball nazi- uh, _enthusiast_ had a lot more understanding for him than Kei did back in the day.

Add that to the long list of Akiteru's usual qualities and you get one slightly troubled Tsukishima Kei who has a lot more imagination that one would give him credit for. Maybe.

Sakusa _can't_ really tell what's going on there but he can see that it troubles the middle blocker more than it probably should.

_Voilà, the mystery of why on Earth should Tsukishima Kei ever talk with Sakusa watchdog Kiyoomi unveiled. It's hilarious._

 

“I don't think you should be _that_ worried.” Sakusa leans down on the beam. “So what if they're on good terms and he's cheerful, understanding, more outgoing, a lot more pleasant to be around and that his people skills are better?”

"But I _do_ wonder if he would be a better match...” The ace of Itachiyama ponders, tone nonchalant, closing his eyes, considering a quick nap.

“You're an ass.” Tsukishima shoots him a look.

“I know.” Sakusa says, opening an eye.

“Oi, captain.” He calls the tall third year passing by with a stack of towels in his hands.

“Yeah?”

“I'm taking a break.” He says as he gets up and down from the beam, walking towards the exit.

“...from what?” The captain of Itachiyama dead pans before ignoring the troublesome ace, muttering something along the lines of how Sakusa wouldn't be like this if Kageyama were around. Unfortunately for Itachiyama's team and fortunately, _somewhat_ , for Tsukishima, Yamaguchi and Hinata dragged Kageyama out for a quick trip to the city.

 

_How joyful that will be, Tsukishima can just imagine. Hinata made the mistake to tell the ace of a past event back from their first year. Sakusa fell ill and severely feverish just by imagining Hinata putting a dirty used towel on Kageyama's head and made Hinata regret that decision by threatening to report him on the ground of attempted murder by infection on stuff Tsukishima and Yamaguchi had to search out on the internet. Those things were extremely rare, but Sakusa wasn't kidding. Hinata, of course, believed him and set out to redeem himself by making sure to keep Kageyama away from dirty surfaces._

_Yamaguchi and Tsukishima made the intelligent move and stayed out of it._

 

Right now, Tsukishima is following said ace out of the gym and down the hall towards the more secluded area where Itachiyama's coach has his space but never uses it, leaving it for the team to use for more private talks.

“From what I can tell, you're fine. You lack some confidence, you're harsh, cold and sometimes your even more proud than you accused Tobio to be, but my guess is that if Tobio sought out any different qualities, he'd be dating your brother.” Sakusa says, opening the doors and letting Tsukishima in, motioning for him to make himself comfortable.

That hit a nerve. Hard.

“He likes _you_ , so try to be a more confident version of yourself.” The older student then adds, sitting down himself on what is no doubt his private chair. One can tell that by the fact that the chair has Sakusa's name on it and is properly disinfected.

“I don't-”

“Exactly. You don't. How about you start doing? I'm not saying to turn into one of those clingy no-life suckers, but it'd be nice if he didn't have to wreck his mind over whether or not something is okay with you.”

“...I see.”

Sakusa may have an attitude but Tsukishima can be 120% sure he'll tell him everything he needs to know.

“You have a reputation of slam dunking Ushijima's spike right past Pluto, own up to it.” Sakusa says, a bit gleeful.

“... _It was just one point._ ” Tsukishima scoffs.

“Who cares. You want to walk beside your King, act like it.” Sakusa says, leaning back into his chair. “You know he accepts you for who you are, why make that a problem? Talk to him. He just looks like he could kill you. Unless it's volleyball. Then he _would_ kill you. But beside the point.”

“You and I both know how perceptive he can be so don't drag this out too much.”

The silence that sets in is on the more comfortable side, Sakusa letting his words sit in Tsukishima's head. He's a bright kid, he'll understand.

“With your level of devotion, I'm inclined to wonder as to why you're still single.” Tsukishima says quietly after a while, visibly relaxing.

 

_That actually gets him something akin to a smirk from Sakusa._

 

“ _Keep this up and I just might not be._ ”

“ _Is that a threat?_ ”

“ _To what are you referring to?_ ” Sakusa asks, getting up.

“Leaving so soon?"

“I might do a stretch or two. This chair is killing me.” The curly head says.

 

 _As if_. He's got a keen intuition. Kageyama's probably on his way back. God forbid Karasuno's captain sees him lazying around. That would result in a very disappointed look. Which Sakusa doesn't want to see in his worst nightmares.

Speaking of which. He just might consider all the things he's heard today.

Wouldn't do him harm now, would it?

 

He returns to the gym some time later, and the first thing he and the rests of them witness is Sakusa diligently doing his thing as the ace, with a certain tachiyama captain looking very done with that murderous shit eating grin plastered on his face.

Kageyama, of course, is on the other side of the net, being the good captain he was always meant to be, in Tsukishima's mind, at least, explaining moves to the first years and letting Yamaguchi explain the float serve to the second years. Hinata is busy being buried with the balls as he slips into the basket, again, with Yachi trying to fish him out.

Seriously, he should be past that stunt by now.

How Kageyama copes with his clumsiness is a mystery to him.

Kageyama, for his part, stopped yelling at his clumsiness sometime last year, only giving him an annoyed squint followed by an exasperated eye-roll before resuming his explaining of how to avoid a block when people blocking it are twice your size and about double your weight.

Aside from the obvious physical change they've all gone through, they've grown in their heads as well. Some more, some less. They do not speak about Hinata's proneness to accidents with the ball basket and entanglement in the net which can occur at times.

Kageyama had grown quite a bit, even if he was still shorter than Tsukishima, which the latter sometimes liked to mention. Shoulders developed broad, hair a bit longer, though his trademark bangs were still present and he still had to use a hair clip sometimes and Sakusa absolutely never failed to move his bangs out of the way when they ended up on the same side of the net, mentioning something about that being his game hairstyle, but Tsukishima had his suspicions about that being a means to ruffle someone's feathers. He smiled more easily, loosening up on some things, but when it came to his favourite sport, he remained the same as ever – more attentive than anything Tsukishima's ever heard of or seen – but that was who he was. He still had troubles with people on occasions, being painfully honest at times when a more delicate approach was in order, but that didn't stop some of them to welcome him in their midst. The team of Itachiyama being the most obvious example. They shared that little evil streak, if he could call it such, that emerged from time to time, although Kageyama was more times oblivious to it than not.

But what Tsukishima found liking the most is the fact that he had all of that.

He could feel his gaze on the court, when things got though, making sure Tsukishima doesn't get overly frustrated. Always making sure not to break the silent agreement on public display of affection, even if Tsukishima could feel the tingling in his own fingers, itching to find his and entangle themselves with his setter's. His hands never seemed to be cold, always at a pleasant degree of warmth that Tsukishima found himself craving more and more.

When Kageyama would drop everything to be at Tsukishima's side when his keen sixth sense would pick up on Tsukishima not being in the best of moods. When he would confide in him and share some things he can't share with everyone else. Not even Hinata.

Even when they would fight.

It may sound stupid, but the more they fought, the less those fights had any weight. Their fight nowadays was a display of a battle of wits – whoever thought of him a simpleton would often end up more than surprised – it's just that he learned with time how to deal with it. He's not too proud of it, but Tsukishima was a great help in that department.

Sakusa also helped, although in his own way.

_He'd not like to go through that again, thank you very much, even if it was...interesting._

Yeah, he had so much to offer and did so selflessly. Even if some of his old nightmares would surface from time to time. Tsukishima could proudly say he helped with that the best way he could.

“If that happens, the best course of action would be-” Kageyama begins, but stops as he feels a weight on the top of his head, automatically raising his hand up to tangle his fingers into those gold strands, grown out a bit.

 

_Yamaguchi once might have observed that Kageyama has a thing for curls. Tsukishima might have heard that. Maybe. Technicalities, really. He just didn't feel like visiting a hair salon in a while. Vice captain duties and that. No time to spare. Busy schedule. Tutoring his majesty took some time, too. Discussing possible tactics. Enjoying his majesty's fingers running through his hair absent minded as he's focused on a Math problem with Tsukishima reading something, head rested against Kageyama's thigh. You know._

_Impossible to squeeze in half an hour at the hair salon when his majesty needed help._

_He had more important things to do._

_Like the able vice captain he was._

 

“-side stepping as a means of distraction but not really one and to slam the ball straight down as narrow as possible. It's a risky move, everything can go wrong from step one onwards, but sometimes, one must just go with the flow and try. Half the time it happens during a mess on the court when no one is thinking rationally and is quite successful.” Kageyama says, as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.

“So we don't have to practice it?” One of the first years asks, skilfully ignoring the scene in front of them, but _fanboying quite loudly in his head_ with the rest of them at the picture – which they'll have to squeeze out of Yamaguchi-senpai. Somehow. Maybe bribe him with some fries. But that would be the last resort, lest they offend him.

“You have to. Otherwise you'll miss the chance in the mess because you'll get easily caught up in it.”

“So do we actively seek it out or...?”

“I was thinking more in the lines of that becoming something you don't even have to think about when the time comes to use that move.”

“Sweet.”

“Any more questions?”

“No.”

“Then off you go. Take a break and we'll get to it after you come back.”

“We'll help out with the blocking part.” Itachiyama's captain offers.

“Thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

 

They all scatter in the matter of under a minute, which doesn't go unnoticed by Tsukishima, but he remains where he is, leisurely enjoying the company of his boyfriend.

“Is everything alright?” Said boyfriend asks, fingers still playing with his strands, almost as if he forgot that he was doing it.

“Yes.” He smiles, closing his eyes.

 

_“...everything's just perfect.”_


End file.
